Page 48 of Venomous Lust
“He brought me back to Sally. We hugged each other and cried, then we laughed. We were so sure we had won. But there is no winning with Knut.”
Hazel paused, gathering her courage to admit her fault to Khal. To tell him the one thing that would make him reject her.
“He took Sally away that day. He told us the Duke didn’t want a little savage, that Sally was a much better subject than I was.” She shut her eyes, not wanting to see the loathing in Khal’s eyes as he understood what had happened. “He sold Sally to him instead of me. When the Ilarian guards took her, Sally lost it. She held on to me, pleaded with me to help her. I tried. I begged Knut to give me a second chance, told him that I would be a good girl, that I would behave from now on, but he just laughed. He laughed and took Sally away. It’s because of my selfishness, my stupidity, that my sister was sold. It’s my fault.”
Silence descended over the room and Khal’s hands left her back. Cold seeped into her skin at the loss of contact, and despair filled Hazel with the hollow pain of the past.
This was it. Khal knew what kind of person she was now. What a selfish, stupid girl she was.
He would never have her now.
“Hazel, look at me.”
The command came from just above her head, harsh and cutting. Hazel recoiled, but she knew the inevitable was coming. She looked up to see Khal staring down at her, his face full of anger, his hard, full lips pressed together in a thin line. His deep blue eyes gleamed with emotion as his chest heaved up and down.
“I need you to hear me, so pay attention. I don’t ever want to have to repeat this to you.”
As he kept talking, his tone became harsher and harsher. Full of anger. Hazel braced herself for the rejection, for the judgment she knew she deserved.
“You are not responsible for what happened to your sister.” Khal glared at her as he spoke. “Knut is the one who’s responsible for all this. Knut is the one who sold her, who made you feel guilty for this. This is on him, not you. You were only trying to survive. You had no idea what he would do in reprisal.”
“But I should have,” Hazel protested, all the guilt and pain coming back like a fresh wound being reopened. “I should have known he would get his revenge.”
“You are not to blame for any of it.”
Khal knelt in front of Hazel, his large hands flattening against her thighs. The warm contact traveled straight up to her heart and some of her oozing pain lessened. She blinked, looking up at him. He wasn’t looking at her with revulsion or with judgment. He was looking at her with sadness and with anger, but the anger wasn’t directed at her. It was directed at Knut.
“I will kill him.” Khal spoke with death in his tone. “I will not capture Knut and bring him back to Prime Councilor Aav. I will rid the universe of that monster, once and for all.”
Hazel held Khal’s gaze for a long time as her heart stopped bleeding and her strength came back to her, little by little. “And I will be there with you.”
Khal stared at her, the shock almost comical on his sharp features. He blinked, and this time, it was his turn to open his mouth without speaking.
“Absolutely not. I won’t permit it.” He shook his head, finally shaking off the shock. “You are going with Celaith to Eokim, where you will be safe.”
Hazel leaned forward, her face coming close to his. She could feel his breath on her lips, the heat from his body, just there, within reach. Her fingers itched with the desire to make contact. She knew it was the Mating Venom acting in her bloodstream, pushing her toward Khal, but she didn’t care.
What she felt for him went beyond the Mating Venom, beyond that venomous lust that consumed her mind whenever he was too close. What she felt for him had transformed, melted into something deeper. Something she feared naming, but couldn’t live without anymore.
“I won’t leave your side.” She reached out, cupping Khal’s cheeks. Touching him released a torrent of desire, of savage lust within her bloodstream, but that only made her stronger. More resolute. “You took me as bloodmate. Now, you have to accept that that means we’re together, for better or for worse. No going back.”
Khal’s Prussian blue eyes shone with emotion and he swallowed hard. “I can’t let you come to harm.” There was no more anger in his voice. Only a deep, piercing concern that went straight to her heart.
“Neither can I.”
Then she kissed him. When her lips landed on his, she knew she had finally found her home. And she was never letting it go.
Chapter 16
Khal
Hazel’s mouth was on him, brazen and feminine. Her sweet scent filled his nostrils, her pheromones of pain and lust, of fear and joy, melting into a potent mixture that filled his senses and loosened his already tenuous hold on his control.
The salty taste of her tears entered his mouth, mingling with her taste. He wanted to lick those tears from her cheeks until nothing remained of the ravaging pain she had been through.
She should never be sad, never be afraid. Her happiness had become his mission in life, his very reason to exist.
“I should return to the control room.” Khal placed his hands firmly on her waist, peeling his lips from hers with a supernatural effort. “Make sure the Myrador remains safe.”
